The Downloader On The Young Playthings

One of Britain’s most important – if brazenly unfashionable – independent labels, Smalltown America have the knack for finding and releasing acts brimming with a wide-eyed enthusiasm and in absolute thrall to solid-gold pop hooks. Oxfordshire’s The Young Playthings are no exception. This is sun-scorched power pop that drips with the sass of teenage abandon and the bent harmonies of mid-period Pavement. It’s optimistic, American-tinged indie rock that sits quite comfortably alongside such luminaries as Weezer, Wheatus or forgotten Scandinavian indie pop tarts Fungus.